play he is required to put up double the 'ante'
or as much more as he wishes up to the value of
his hand and the limit agreed on before the game
commences. The player at his left has also the
choice of stayin;; out or depositin<; in the pool the
same number of chips as the player who preceded
him. in which case he is said to 'see' him; or he
may 'raise' or 'go him better,' in which case he
deposits in the pool more than did his predeces-
sor. The next or third player has also the choice
of staying out or 'raising' the preceding player,
and so on with each in turn, one or more times
around. Should all the players except one fall
out, the one who remains takes the pool without
showing his hand. Again, all the players in the
game may '.see' the one that 'raised' last, in which
ease they are said to 'call' the player's hand.
Should none of the others have a better hand
they let the one who has been called take the
pool without displaying their own hands, other-
wi.se the higlier hands arc taldcd and the winner
takes the pool. It is sometimes agreed that the
players who desire cards in the beginning of the
game must add to their 'antes,' and sometimes
players make bets before they make their draw.
The 'ante' is large or small, according as the 'eld-
est' hand plays ; the common method being to
require each player to 'ante' twice as much as the
eldest hand, who will then have to make good at
his next turn the rest of the 'ante,' or else fall
out of the game. 'Bluffing' is where a player bets
high on a weak hand in the hope that the other
players, thinking his hand justifies the bet, will
stay out of the game and thus leave the pool to
the 'bluffer.' Apart from 'bluffing' the only part
of poker in which skill is requisite is in discard-
ing. Thus, when a player holds four of a suit he
will often discard the fifth in the hope of secur-
ing a 'flush.' Some idea of the strength of a
player's hand is got by taking note of the number
of cards he calls for.
POKOMOS, prt-ko'moz. A Bantu nation of the Tana basin, British East Africa, long op- pressed by the Galla and the Swaheli. They are of medium height and of light brown color. Their huts are of beehive shape on raised platforms along the river banks. They are monogamists, and are truthful. The Pokomos, in common with many other tribes of this region, are at a low stage of culture, having a loose type of social or- ganization, a well-developed totemic system, and a firm belief in magic.
POKOMOS. A Central American Indian tribe. See Maya.
POL, pol, Wincenty (1807-72). A Polish poet, born at Lublin. Educated in a Jesuit col- lege at Tarnopol, he thence went to Lemberg, where he came in touch with French Romanticism. After traveling through Poland, in 1830 he be- came professor of German at Wilna, and in the same year, throwing in his lot with the liberators, wrote his first patriotic songs. Returning from exile in 1849, he was professor of geography at Cracow until 1853. He was forced to resign from this post, but returned to Cracow after sev- eral years in Lemberg. In his last years he was totally blind. Pol's most popular work was Songs of Our Land (1843), which deals with the various elements of the Polish population, while his best book is probably Pictures from Life and Travel (1847). His genius was essentially lyric and simple, at its best in descriptions of nature
or of homely life. His collected works appeared at Lemberg (1875-78).
POLA, po'la. The chief naval station of Aus- tria-Hungary, with one of the finest harbors in Europe, in the Crownland of Istria, on the Adri- atic Sea, about 53 miles south of Triest (Map: Austria, C 4). The bay, which is thoroughly sheltered, is spacious enough to accommodate a very large fleet. The town is strongly fortified by walls and a citadel, overlooking the bay. The en- trance to the bay is commanded by two forts and by various other fortifications on the islands in the bay and on its shores. Here are the dockyards, dry docks, and repair shops of the Austrian navy, the headquarters of the Admiral- ty, a hydrographic bureau, and various technical institutions. The town has several very impos- ing Roman remains, among which are the well- preserved temple of Augustus and Roma, the colossal Imperial amphitheatre, which could seat 25,000 persons, and the Porta Aurea, a sumptuous triumphal arch, dating from the beginning of the Christian Era. The Marine Casino and the Monte Zaro, with the fine statue to Admiral Tegetthoff, form a delightful pleasure resort. Pola is an im- portant commercial port. It has grown from 1100 inhabitants in 1851 to 45,052 in 1900 (in- cluding 7657 on garison duty). About 40 per cent. of the population are Italians, the rest being mainly Serbo-Croats and Germans.
Pola is of very ancient origin. It was de- stroyed by Julius Cæsar, but rebuilt by Augus- tus at the request of his daughter Julia, from whom,it obtained its name, Pietas Julia. It was a station of the naval fleet and bore the name of Republica Polensis. It was taken by the Vene- tians in the middle of the twelfth century, and was destroyed in the struggle between Venice and Genoa. Its present prosperity dates from about 1855.
POLAK. See Poland, paragraph on Ethnology.
POLAND, pr.'hind. A former kingdom of Europe, whose territory is now included in Rus- sia, Austria-Hungary, and Prussia. At its great- est extent, previous to 1600, it had an area of about 375,000 square miles, with a popula- tion of about 15,000,000, and extended north- ward to the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Riga; westward to Brandenburg; southward to Hungary, Moldavia. and nearly to the Crimea; and eastward so as to include most of the basin of the Dnieper. About six-sevenths of this area is now included in the Russian Empire, embracing Russian Poland (see Poland, Russian), West Russia (Lithuania. Volhraia, etc.), a great part of Little Russia, Livonia, and Courland. The part of Poland belonging to Austria constitutes the Crownland of Galicia (q.v). The parts of the kingdom incorporated in Prussia include Posen (q.v.). West Prussia (q.v.), and the Dis- trict of Ermland (q.v.), in East Prussia. Before the final partition in 1705 the area of Poland was reduced to 04,104 square miles, with a population of 4..500.000.
Ethnology. The territory comprised in the Kingdom of Poland before its dismemberment was inhabited by four ethnic types, Poles, Little Rus- sians (Ruthenians), White Russians, and Lithua- nians. The Poles proper have been identified with the Polianes, a branch of the Lekhs dwelling on the Vistula in the sixth century. The great
